Lock & load

BMW'S M3 TOURING IS UNQUESTIONABLY THE GUN WAGON OF THE MOMENT. BUT IS IT SHARP ENOUGH TO DRAW A BEAD ON THE MIGHTY AUDI RS6 AVANT FROM THE SEGMENT ABOVE?

-  MATT SAUNDERS

HERE'S A TRUTH about comparison tests. You often learn more about a new car by taking it out of its segment pigeonhole and applying a bit of wider-focus perspective than you do by finding the closest rival possible. People don't shop for the performance cars of their waking dreams with painstaking reference to vehicle segments and mechanical type, after all. Buyers just tend to like what they like - especially if it's something new.

Which is why we've decided to throw the BMW M3 xDrive Competition Touring against arguably the toughest opponent that any fast, all-wheel-drive wagon could face in 2023: the ultimate performance five-door in its new-and-improved, even more ultimate form. Welcome then, in Nardo Grey with carbonfibre trim, the new Audi RS6 Avant Performance - all 463kW and 850Nm of it (see sidebar, right, for details).

We know Munich's new load-lugging M3 is good, but can it really be so good as to beat what has become the most revered fast wagon of them all and arguably the most iconic Audi RS model?

Or will the Audi's greater size and heft keep them at a discreet but significant notional distance? The new M3 Touring may indeed be longer at the kerb than was the late-1990s M5, but it's still nearly 200mm shorter than the RS6 - not to mention, as per the manufacturers' claimed kerb weights, some 235kg lighter.

The Audi may have its newly uprated twin-turbo V8 to lean on, but its lead on power-to-weight ratio is actually less than 20kW per tonne - and on 0-100km/h sprinting (at 3.4sec) it's worth only 0.2sec. Might Audi's idol be ripe for the taking, then, or has BMW's new versatility-champion M car finally bitten off more than it can chew?